Hello, I have an Amiga 500 with hard disk and memory expansion, and a 117 volts original Commodore power supply - In my country the standard is 220 volts, so I have to buy a 220V to 110V step down voltage transformer - What power in watts do I need for an Amiga 500 ? The available transformers go from 100 watts to 500 watts - I don´t want to spend too much on it - What is the minimum in watts that you recommend me for the voltage transformer ? Thanks in advance.

100W is probably ok, an expanded 500 like that probably doesn't use more than 50W. But I would always go for plenty of headroom when choosing transformers like that, so maybe 200W would be better to be safe.

An alternative could be to just buy a European PSU, which will have the correct voltage you need, or a modern replacement PSU that will run on any mains voltage.

Hello, I have an Amiga 500 with hard disk and memory expansion, and a 117 volts original Commodore power supply - In my country the standard is 220 volts, so I have to buy a 220V to 110V step down voltage transformer - What power in watts do I need for an Amiga 500 ? The available transformers go from 100 watts to 500 watts - I don´t want to spend too much on it - What is the minimum in watts that you recommend me for the voltage transformer ? Thanks in advance.

Not sure but perhaps original PSU using voltage doubler - this is quite common for US/EU PSU's - they have switch to use PSU in voltage doubler or normal mode - if this is similar for this PSU then you could modify circuit. Or as suggested by Daedalus go for cheap PC PSU, smallest wattage and size you can find. Flex ATX PSU are very small and they can be easily located in original Commodore enclosure.

100W is probably ok, an expanded 500 like that probably doesn't use more than 50W. But I would always go for plenty of headroom when choosing transformers like that, so maybe 200W would be better to be safe.

An alternative could be to just buy a European PSU, which will have the correct voltage you need, or a modern replacement PSU that will run on any mains voltage.

Hi, thanks for your reply - I thought the same like you, and today bought a 200 watts step down transformer and works fine with the Amiga I have, so my problem is solved as for now.

An unexpanded A500 uses about 25W, so with a HDD and a mem expansion I would expect 30-35W at the most. So with 200W you should be well covered and could probably even hook a 110V CRT monitor up to it as well.

So with 200W you should be well covered and could probably even hook a 110V CRT monitor up to it as well.

Hmm in theory yes, but monitors spike on power on a lot and sometimes this exceeds the converter's specs. 200W seems just enough for all that, i'd go a little higher if I am to connect a screen.

Also when monitors start to fail or get old they start messing with the voltage converters it seems. I am currently dealing with my 1084 burning through my step up converter's fuse every 3rd power cycle. I have a 300W one so plenty of juice in theory, yet, it's tripping up the fuse often on powerup.

Hmm in theory yes, but monitors spike on power on a lot and sometimes this exceeds the converter's specs. 200W seems just enough for all that, i'd go a little higher if I am to connect a screen.

Well, I mostly meant my comment as a joke.

CRTs have quite high in-rush current which you will notice since incandescent light bulbs will often go dim briefly when the monitor is turned on, particularly if it hasn't been on for a while so its capacitors are decharged. I wouldn't be surprised to see >10A currents.

OH okay, but wouldn't it be wise not to joke about this kinda thing? After all people come looking for help, and a jokey answer can lead to bad consequences with people hardware especially when dealing with these up/down step converters, they're scary gear.